Wikipedia Moves Delhi High Court Against Order To Take Down Allegedly 'Defamatory' Content On ANI, Hearing Tomorrow

Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts Wikipedia platform, on Monday (April 7) moved the Delhi High Court against the order directing it to take down allegedly defamatory content and description of news agency ANI Media Private Limited.

The matter was listed today before a division bench comprising Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Renu Bhatnagar.

However, the matter could not be heard as one of the judges, Justice Chawla, recused to hear it.

“Subject to orders of the Chief Justice, list this appeal before a bench of which one of us is not a part. List tomorrow,” the Bench said.

While sitting as a single judge, Justice Chawla had dealt with ANI's defamation suit against Wikipedia. The judge had issued summons in the suit and had directed Wikipedia to disclose subscriber details of three individuals who edited ANI Wikipedia page.

Wikipedia filed the appeal challenging the single judge order passed on April 02 directing it to remove allegedly defamatory statements published against ANI on its Wikipedia page titled “Asian News International.”

The single judge had observed that Wikipedia cannot wash its hands of the contents published on it by merely claiming that it is an intermediary and cannot be held responsible for the statements published on the platform.

Perusing ANI's Wikipedia page, the Court had said that the statements on it were all sourced from articles which were nothing but editorials and opinionated pages.

Before the single judge, ANI had filed Rs. 2 crore defamation suit against Wikimedia Foundation.

Wikipedia's page said ANI "has been criticized for having served as a propaganda tool for the incumbent central government, distributing materials from a vast network of fake news websites, and misreporting events.”

In its suit against Wikimedia Foundation and its officials, ANI had said that the former has allegedly published palpably false and defamatory content with malicious intent of tarnishing the news agency's reputation and to discredit its goodwill.

In August last year, Wikipedia was directed by the Court to disclose to ANI the subscriber details of the three individuals available with it within two weeks.

Wikipedia challenged the said order before the division bench which took exception to a dedicated page the platform on the pending defamation proceedings.

The Wikipedia page in question was titled “Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation.” It read “The judge in the case has threatened to order the government of India to shut down Wikipedia in the country.”

Later, the division bench had ordered take down of the page in question, noting that adverse comments were made against the single judge on the page which was prima facie contemptuous.

Wikipedia's appeal was disposed of after both the parties entered into a consent order and resolved the matter. The division bench had then asked the single judge to proceed ahead with the defamation suit.

In November, Justice Prasad had issued summons to three individuals who allegedly edited the Wikipedia page of ANI.

Recently, the Supreme Court issued notice on Wikipedia's appeal against the division bench's order directing removal of Wikipedia page relating to the defamation dispute.

Title: Wikimedia Foundation v. ANI Media